Valentine’s gig for Eddi Reader

To celebrate the release of her new album, Vagabond, musician Eddi Reader has announced her Irish tour dates including a Valentine’s night gig in Mullingar Arts Centre.

Recorded by Mark Freegard in Eddi’s hometown of Glasgow with a cast of well chosen musicians and friends eager to play their part, this is a most captivating, deeply personal yet universal sounding album. Vagabond was produced by Eddi Reader and features many of her long-term musical collaborators including: John Douglas (Trashcan Sinatras ), Alan Kelly, Ian Carr, Ewen Vernal, Roy Dodds (Fairground Attraction ), John McCusker, and Boo Hewerdine.

Eddi grew up in Glasgow and Irvine, Scotland and it was in those towns that she learned to use music as a vehicle for communicating with others through busking and performing at the local folk clubs. In the early 1980s Eddi travelled around Europe with circus and performance artists before moving to London where she quickly became a sought-after session vocalist. She famously harmonised with Annie Lennox touring with the Eurythmics, after her time with successful punk outfit Gang of Four. It was short-lived but warmly remembered Fairground Attraction that really brought her into the limelight and to the attention of a much wider audience. The single Perfect and parent album First of a Million Kisses both topped the British charts.

However, it was her subsequent albums which signalled her increasing ability to assimilate different musical styles and make them all very much her own. Her unerring instinct for fine material, whether self-penned, collaborative or a carefully chosen cover version resulted in Mirmama (1992 ), Eddi Reader (1994 ), Candyfloss & Medicine (1996 ), Angels & Electricity (1998 ), Simple Soul (2001 ).